Scrabble

 

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing letter-bearing tiles onto a game board.

GAME BOARD:

• Divided into a 15×15 grid of squares.

• Rows are lettered “A-O” while Columns are numbered “1-15”

• Contain “premium” squares: It multiplies the number of points awarded! They are:
  • The center square (H8) marked with a star symbol (Counts as a “double-word” square)
  • 24 light blue “double-letter” squares
  • 12 dark blue “triple-letter” squares
  • 16 pink “double-word” squares
  • 8 dark red/orange “triple-word” squares

LETTER DISTRIBUTIONS:

The game contains 100 tiles:

• 98 are marked with a letter and a point value ranging from 1 to 10.
• 2 blank tiles are unmarked and carry no point value

*The number of points of each lettered tile is based on the letter’s frequency in standard English writing; commonly used letters such as vowels are worth one point, while less common letters score higher, with Q and Z each worth 10 points.

 

0 points	1 point	2 points	3 points	4 points	5 points	8 points	10 points
2 blank tiles (Can be used as substitutes for any letter)	A × 9 E × 12 I × 9 L × 4 N × 6 O × 8 R × 6 S × 4 T × 6 U × 4	D × 4 G × 3	B × 2 C × 2 M × 2 P × 2	F × 2 H × 2 V × 2 W × 2 Y × 2	K × 1	J × 1 X × 1	Q × 1 Z × 1

***The total number of points is 187.

 

Rules for playing:

TO BEGIN:

• To determine who goes first, one player from each team takes a tile out of the box. The player with the letter closest to ‘A’ starts.
  • A blank tile beats an A.

• Return the tiles to the box when done.

• Each team, in turn, draws seven new tiles and places them on their racks.

THE PLAY:

• The first word played must cover H8, the center square. (Not necessary the first letter)

• The word must consist of at least two letters, extending horizontally (left-to-right) or vertically (top-to-bottom).

• Diagonal words are not permitted.

• Each team places the complete word on the board and starts the opponent team’s clock.

• The players can change the play anytime their clock is running, but commits to the play when the opponent team’s clock starts.

• The team then draws tiles from the box (as many as was played) to replenish their rack to seven tiles.

During a turn, a team will have seven tiles on their rack (with the exception of the endgame). On each turn, the team has three options:

1. Pass, forfeiting the turn and scoring nothing
2. Pass the turn, exchange one or all tiles for an equal number from the box, scoring nothing
3. Play at least one tile on the board, adding the value of all words formed to the team’s cumulative score.

 

New words can be formed by:

1. Adding one ore more tiles to the beginning or end of a word already on the board or to both the beginning and end of that word. YOU CANNOT ADD A “S” TO THE END OF A WORD AND FORM A PLURAL.

2. Placing a word at right angles to a word already on the board. The new word must use one of the letters of the word.

3. Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjoining tiles also form complete words.

4. The new word may also add a letter to an existing word.

5. By bridging two or more letters from two words that are parallel on the game board.

SCORING:

• To score, add up all the values of the numbers on the tiles, plus any premium values from using the premium squares.

• The 2 blank tiles score no points regardless of what letter it is designated or its placement on a premium square.

• If a word crosses both premium letter and word squares, all the bonus letter values are added up before the complete word is doubled or tripled.

• The bonus scores of the premium squares only apply to the turn in which the tiles are first placed on them. In subsequent turns, those letters count at face value.

• You get the full score for ALL words formed/ modified by your play. If more than one word is formed, the common letters are counted (with premium values if any) for each word.

• Sometimes a word may cross two premium squares. The word score is doubled and re-doubled- 4 times the complete word score; or tripled or re-tripled- 9 times the complete word score!

• Playing all seven tiles in a single turn is officially called a “Bingo”. A team who does this receives 50 points in addition to what the word would normally score.

• After the game, all word scores are added up. Each team’s score is reduced by the sum of their unplayed tiles.

• If one team has used all the tiles, their score is increased by the sum of the unplayed tiles of all opponent team.

• If final scores are tied, the team whose score was highest before adjusting for unplayed tiles is the winner.

PERMITTED WORDS:

• Words defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary
• Exceptions include: Words requiring apostrophes and hyphens, abbreviations, proper nouns, symbols/notations

CHALLENGING THE OPPONENT:

• After a team plays a word, their opponent may choose to challenge the word formed by the play. They should immediately pause the clock and raise the challenge.

• The team challenged must then look up the words in question, and if any one of them is found to be unacceptable, the play is removed from the board; the team returns the newly played tiles to their rack. A penalty score is deducted.

• A penalty score is deducted from the challenging team score, for challenging an acceptable play.

THE GAME ENDS WHEN:

1. All the tiles have been drawn AND one of the teams has used all the tiles in their rack.
2. When the time limit is reached.

“Every man dies; not every man truly Scrabbles.”